Netbook is a generic name given to a category of smaww, wightweight, wegacy-free, and inexpensive waptop computers dat were introduced in 2007. Netbooks compete in de same market segment as mobiwes and Chromebooks (a variation on de portabwe network computer).

At deir inception in wate 2007[1] as smawwer notebooks optimized for wow weight and wow cost[2]—netbooks omitted certain features (e.g., de opticaw drive), featured smawwer screens and keyboards, and offered reduced computing power when compared to a fuww-sized waptop. Over de course of deir evowution, netbooks have ranged in size from bewow 5" screen diagonaw to 12". A typicaw weight is 1 kg (2.2 pounds). Often significantwy wess expensive dan oder waptops,[3] by mid-2009, netbooks began to be offered by some wirewess data carriers to deir users "free of charge", wif an extended service contract purchase.[4]

In de short period since deir appearance, netbooks grew in size and features, and converged wif smawwer, wighter waptops and subnotebooks. By August 2009, when comparing a Deww netbook to a Deww notebook, CNET cawwed netbooks "noding more dan smawwer, cheaper notebooks", noting, "de specs are so simiwar dat de average shopper wouwd wikewy be confused as to why one is better dan de oder", and "de onwy concwusion is dat dere reawwy is no distinction between de devices".[5] In an attempt to prevent cannibawizing de more wucrative waptops in deir wineup, manufacturers imposed severaw constraints on netbooks; however dis wouwd soon push netbooks into a niche where dey had few distinctive advantages over traditionaw waptops or tabwet computers (see bewow).[6]

By 2011, de increasing popuwarity of tabwet computers (particuwarwy de iPad)—a different form factor, but wif improved computing capabiwities and wower production cost—had wed to a decwine in netbook sawes.[7] At de high end of de performance spectrum, uwtrabooks, uwtra-wight portabwes wif a traditionaw keyboard and dispway have been revowutionized by de 11.6-inch MacBook Air, which made fewer performance sacrifices awbeit at considerabwy higher production cost.[8][9] Capitawizing on de success of de MacBook Air,[10] and in response to it, Intew promoted Uwtrabook as a new high-mobiwity standard, which has been haiwed by some anawysts as succeeding where netbooks faiwed.[11][12][13] As a resuwt of dese two devewopments, netbooks of 2011 had kept price as deir onwy strong point, wosing in de design, ease-of-use and portabiwity department to tabwets (and tabwets wif removabwe keyboards) and to Uwtrabook waptops in de features and performance fiewd.[14]

Many major netbook producing companies stopped producing dem by de end of 2012.[15] Many netbook products were repwaced on de market by Chromebooks, a variation on de network computer concept in de form of a netbook. HP re-entered de non-Chromebook netbook market wif de Stream 11 in 2014.[16]

Contents

An Asus Eee PC 700, de first mass-produced netbook, which used a 7-inch screen, uh-hah-hah-hah.

The origins of de netbook can be traced to de highwy popuwar Toshiba range of Libretto sub-notebooks. The 6" Libretto 20 dates back to earwy 1996 and weighed onwy 840g. Appwe awso had a wine of PowerBook Duos dat were uwtra-portabwe Macintosh waptops in de mid 90s. More recentwy, Psion's now-discontinued netBook wine, de OLPC XO-1 (initiawwy cawwed US$100 waptop) and de Pawm Foweo were aww smaww, portabwe, network-enabwed computers.[17][18][19] The generic use of de term "netbook", however, began in 2007 when Asus unveiwed de Asus Eee PC. Originawwy designed for emerging markets, de 23 cm × 17 cm (9.1 in × 6.7 in) device weighed about 0.9 kg (2 wb) and featured a 7 in (18 cm) dispway, a keyboard approximatewy 85% de size of a normaw keyboard, a sowid-state drive and a custom version of Linux wif a simpwified user interface geared towards netbook use.[18] Fowwowing de Eee PC, Everex waunched its Linux-based CwoudBook; Windows XP and Windows Vista modews were awso introduced and MSI reweased de Wind—oders soon fowwowed suit.

The OLPC project fowwowed de same market goaws waid down by de eMate 300 eight years earwier.[20][21] Known for its innovation in producing a durabwe, cost- and power-efficient netbook for devewoping countries, it is regarded as one of de major factors dat wed more top computer hardware manufacturers to begin creating wow-cost netbooks for de consumer market.[22] When de first Asus Eee PC sowd over 300,000 units in four monds, companies such as Deww and Acer took note and began producing deir own inexpensive netbooks. And whiwe de OLPC XO-1 targets a different audience dan do de oder manufacturers' netbooks, it appears dat OLPC is now facing competition, uh-hah-hah-hah. Devewoping countries now have a warge choice of vendors, from which dey can choose which wow-cost netbook dey prefer.[23]

Netbook market popuwarity widin waptops in second hawf of 2008 based on de number of product cwicks in de Laptop Subcategory per monf by PriceGrabber[3]

By wate 2008, netbooks had begun to take market share away from notebooks.[24] In contrast to earwier, wargewy faiwed attempts to estabwish mini computers as a new cwass of mainstream personaw computing devices buiwt around comparativewy expensive pwatforms reqwiring proprietary software appwications or imposing severe usabiwity wimitations, de recent success of netbooks can awso be attributed to de fact dat PC technowogy has now matured enough to awwow truwy cost optimized impwementations wif enough performance to suit de needs of a majority of PC users. This is iwwustrated by de fact dat typicaw system performance of a netbook is on de wevew of a mainstream PC in 2001, at around one qwarter of de cost. Whiwe dis performance wevew suffices for most of de user needs, it caused an increased interest in resource-efficient appwications such as Googwe's Chrome, and forced Microsoft to extend avaiwabiwity of Windows XP to secure market share. It is estimated dat awmost dirty times more netbooks were sowd in 2008 (11.4 miwwion, 70% of which were in Europe)[25] dan in 2007 (400,000).[26] This trend is reinforced by de rise of web-based appwications as weww as mobiwe networking and, according to Wired Magazine, netbooks are evowving into "super-portabwe waptops for professionaws".[27] The ongoing recession is awso hewping wif de growing sawes of netbooks.[28]

In Austrawia, de New Souf WawesDepartment of Education and Training, in partnership wif Lenovo, provided Year 9 (high schoow) students in government high schoows wif Lenovo S10e netbooks in 2009, Lenovo Mini 10 netbooks in 2010, Lenovo Edge 11 netbooks in 2011 and a modified Lenovo X130e netbook in 2012, each prewoaded wif software incwuding Microsoft Office and Adobe Systems' Creative Suite 4. These were provided under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's Digitaw Education Revowution, or DER. The netbooks ran Windows 7 Enterprise. These netbooks were secured wif Computrace Lojack for waptops dat de powice can use to track de device if it is wost or stowen, uh-hah-hah-hah. The NSW DET retains ownership of dese netbooks untiw de student graduates from Year 12, when de student can keep it. The Government of Trinidad and Tobago—Prime Minister Kamwa Persad Bisseser—is awso providing HP waptops to form 1 Students (11-year-owds) wif de same powice trackabwe software as above.

Microsoft and Intew have tried to "cement" netbooks in de wow end of de market to protect mainstream notebook PC sawes, because dey get wower margins on wow-cost modews. The companies have wimited de specifications of netbooks, but despite dis originaw eqwipment manufacturers have announced higher-end netbooks modews as of March 2009.[30]

Ending in 2008 de report was dat de typicaw netbook featured a 1.4 kg (3 wb) weight, a 9 in (23 cm) screen, wirewess Internet connectivity, Linux or Windows XP, an Intew Atom processor, and a cost of wess dan $400 US.[31] A mid-2009 newspaper articwe[32] said dat a typicaw netbook is 1.2 kg (2.6 wb), $300 US, and has a 10 in (25 cm) screen,
1 GB of random-access memory, a 160 GBhard disk drive, and a wirewess transceiver for bof home and a mobiwe network. Buyers drove de netbook market towards warger screens, which grew from 7 in (18 cm) in de originaw Asus Eee PC 700 to 12 in (30.5 cm) modews in de summer of 2009.[33]

Having peaked at about 20% of de portabwe computer market, netbooks started to swightwy wose market share (widin de category) in earwy 2010, coinciding wif de appearance and success of de iPad.[34] Technowogy commentator Ross Rubin argued two and a hawf years water in Engadget dat "Netbooks never got any respect. Whiwe Steve Jobs rebuked de netbook at de iPad's introduction, de iPad owes a bit of debt to de wittwe waptops. The netbook demonstrated de potentiaw of an inexpensive, portabwe second computing device, wif a screen size of about 10 inches, intended primariwy for media consumption and wight productivity."[35] Awdough some manufacturers directwy bwamed competition from de iPad, some anawysts pointed out dat warger, fuwwy fwedged waptops had entered de price range of netbooks at about de same time.[36]

The 11.6-inch MacBook Air, introduced in wate 2010, compared favorabwy to many netbooks in terms of processing power but awso ergonomics, at 2.3 pounds being wighter dan some 10-inch netbooks, owing in part to de integration of de fwash storage chips on de main wogic board.[37] It was described as a superwative netbook (or at weast as what a netbook shouwd be) by severaw technowogy commentators,[38][39][40] even dough Appwe has never referred to it as such, sometimes describing it—in de words of Steve Jobs—as "de dird kind of notebook."[39] The entry wevew modew had a MSRP of $999,[39] costing significantwy more dan de average netbook, as much as dree or four times more.[35]

In 2011 tabwet sawes overtook netbooks for de first time, and in 2012 netbook sawes feww by 25 percent, year-on-year.[41] The sustained decwine since 2010 had been most pronounced in de United States and in Western Europe, whiwe Latin America was stiww showing some modest growf.[42] In December 2011, Deww announced dat it was exiting de netbook market.[43] In May 2012, Toshiba announced it was doing de same, at weast in de United States.[44] An August 2012 articwe by John C. Dvorak in PC Magazine cwaimed dat de term "netbook" is "nearwy gone from de wexicon awready", having been superseded in de market pwace wargewy by de more powerfuw (and MacBook Air inspired) Uwtrabook—described as "a netbook on steroids"—and to a wesser extent by tabwets.[13] In September 2012 Asus, Acer and MSI announced dat dey wiww stop manufacturing 10-inch netbooks.[45] Simuwtaneouswy Asus announced dey wouwd stop devewoping aww Eee PC products, instead focusing on deir mixed tabwet-netbook Transformer wine.[45]

Wif de introduction of Chromebooks, major manufacturers produced de new waptops for de same segment of de market dat netbooks serviced. Chromebooks, a variation on de network computer concept, in de form of a netbook, reqwire internet connections for fuww functionawity. Chromebooks became top sewwing waptops in 2014. The dreat of Googwe Chrome OS based Chromebooks prompted Microsoft to revive and revamp netbooks wif Windows 8.1 wif Bing. HP re-entered de non-Chromebook netbook market wif de Stream 11 in 2014.[16]

In 1996 Psion started appwying for trademarks for a wine of netBook products dat was water reweased in 1999.[46] Internationaw trademarks were issued (incwuding U.S. Trademark 75,215,401 and ) but de modews faiwed to gain popuwarity[47] and are now discontinued (except for providing accessories, maintenance and support to existing users).[48] Simiwar marks were recentwy rejected by de USPTO citing a "wikewihood of confusion" under section 2(d).[49][50][51]

It was awso reveawed around de same time dat Intew had awso sued Psion Tekwogix (US & Canada) and Psion (UK) in de Federaw Court on simiwar grounds.[63] In addition to seeking cancewwation of de trademark, Intew sought an order enjoining Psion from asserting any trademark rights in de term "netbook", a decwarative judgment regarding deir use of de term, attorneys' fees, costs and disbursements and "such oder and furder rewief as de Court deems just and proper".[64]

On June 2, 2009, Psion announced dat de suit had been settwed out of court. Psion's statement said dat de company was widdrawing aww of its trademark registrations for de term "Netbook" and dat Psion agreed to "waive aww its rights against dird parties in respect of past, current or future use" of de term.[65]

Netbooks typicawwy have wess powerfuw hardware dan warger waptop computers and do not incwude an opticaw disc drive dat warger waptops often have. Some netbooks do not even have a conventionaw hard drive.[66] Such netbooks use sowid-state storage devices instead, as dese reqwire wess power, are faster, wighter, and generawwy more shock-resistant, but wif much wess storage capacity (such as 32, 64, or 128 GB compared to de 100 GB to 2 TB mechanicaw hard drives typicaw of many notebooks/waptop computers).

They incwude more dan one USB port, because one of dem is usuawwy devoted to de wirewess keyboard and mouse set. This wirewess keyboard couwd not incwude de numeric keypad

Most netbooks, such as dose from Asus, BenQ, Deww, Toshiba, Acer use de Intew Atom notebook processor (typicawwy de N270 1.6 GHz but awso avaiwabwe is de N280 at 1.66 GHz, repwaced by de N450 series wif graphics and memory controwwer integrated on de chip in earwy 2010 and running at 1.66 GHz), but de x86-compatibwe VIA TechnowogiesC7 processor is awso powering netbooks from many different manufacturers wike HP[68] and Samsung.[69] VIA has awso designed de Nano, a new x86-64-compatibwe architecture targeting wower priced, mobiwe appwications wike netbooks. Currentwy, one netbook uses de Nano; de Samsung NC20. Some very wow cost netbooks use a system-on-a-chipVortex86 processor meant for embedded systems, just to be "Windows compatibwe", but wif very wow performance. In 2011, AMD waunched Fusion netbook processors which are incwuded in Asus Eee PC 1015T and many oders.[70][71]

Awdough not officiawwy sanctioned by AMD for dis rowe, a 1.2 GHz Adwon 64 modew L110 processor, dissipating 13 W, was used by at weast one company—Gateway—to power an 11.6-inch portabwe (1366x768 screen resowution), described as a netbook by de press.[72] Launched in mid-2009 at $399 in de United States, de LT31 met wif reviewers' approvaw for its performance, being generawwy recognized as faster dan contemporary Atom-based products in de same price range, whiwe having a considerabwy shorter battery wife and stiww fawwing short of Intew's Core 2 ULV product wine powering more expensive smaww-factor offerings.[73][74][75][76]

The 11.6 inch MacBook Air debuted in wate 2010 wif a 1.4 GHz Core 2 Duo processor (a 10 W part) and a 1366x768 dispway resowution for its entry wevew modew priced at $999 (wif 1.6 GHz avaiwabwe as upgrade), which put it "much cwoser to a fuwwy modern waptop dan de smaww-but-crippwed netbooks".[77] One reviewer described it as de "Mercedes Benz of netbooks".[40]

ARM Howdings designs and wicenses microprocessor technowogy wif rewativewy wow power reqwirements and wow cost which wouwd constitute an ideaw basis for netbooks. In particuwar, de recent ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore series of processor cores have been touted by ARM as an awternative pwatform to x86 for netbooks.[87][88] In June 2009, Nvidia announced a dozen mobiwe Internet devices running ARM-based TegraSoC's, some of which wiww be netbooks.[89]

Some ARM-based products were advertised as smartbooks, particuwarwy by Quawcomm. Smartbooks promised to dewiver features incwuding awways on, aww-day battery wife, 3G connectivity and GPS (aww typicawwy found in smartphones) in a waptop-stywe body wif a screen size of 5 to 10 inches and a QWERTY keyboard. These systems do not run traditionaw x86 versions of Microsoft Windows, rader custom Linuxoperating systems (such as Googwe's Android or Chrome OS).[90][91] In de end, few such products were ever shipped to market under dis branding, wike de HP-Compaq Airwife,[92] de Toshiba AC100 (sowd as Dynabook AZ in Japan)[93] and de Efika MX.[94] Some of de devices, wike de AC100, have been hampered by being sowd wif a phone-oriented operating system wike Android.[95] By de end of 2010, Quawcomm CEO Pauw Jacobs admitted dat tabwet computers such as de iPad awready occupied de niche of de smartbook, so de name was dropped.[92]

Microsoft announced on Apriw 8, 2008 dat, despite de impending end of retaiw avaiwabiwity for de operating system dat June, it wouwd continue to wicense wow-cost copies of Windows XP Home Edition to OEMs drough October 2010 (one year after de rewease of Windows 7) for what it defined as "uwtra wow-cost personaw computers"—a definition carrying restrictions on screen size and processing power.[98][99] The move served primariwy to counter de use of wow-cost Linux distributions on netbooks and create a new market segment for Windows devices, whiwst ensuring dat de devices did not cannibawize de sawes of higher-end PCs running Windows Vista.[100] In 2009, over 90% (96% cwaimed by Microsoft as of February 2009) of netbooks in de United States were estimated to ship wif Windows XP.[101][102]

For Windows 7, Microsoft introduced a new stripped-down edition intended for netbooks known as "Starter", excwusivewy for OEMs. In comparison to Home Premium, Starter has reduced muwtimedia functionawity, does not awwow users to change deir desktop wawwpaper or deme, disabwes de "Aero Gwass" deme, and does not have support for muwtipwe monitors.[103][104]

For Windows 8, in a pwoy to counter Chrome OS-based netbooks and wow-end Android tabwets, Microsoft began to offer no-cost Windows wicenses to OEMs for devices wif screens smawwer dan 9 inches in size. Additionawwy, Microsoft began to offer wow-cost wicenses for a variant of de operating system set up to use Microsoft's Bingsearch engine by defauwt.[16][105][106][107]

Windows CE has awso been used in netbook, due to its reduced feature set.[108]

Googwe's Android software pwatform, designed for mobiwe tewephone handsets, has been demonstrated on an ASUS Eee PC and its version of de Linux operating system contains powicies for mobiwe internet devices incwuding de originaw Asus Eee PC 701.[109] ASUS has awwocated engineers to devewop an Android-based netbook.[110] In May 2009 a contractor of Deww announced it is porting Adobe Fwash Lite to Android for Deww netbooks.[111]Acer announced Android netbooks to be avaiwabwe in Q3/2009.[112] In Juwy 2009, a new project, Android-x86,[113] was created to provide an open source sowution for Android on de x86 pwatform, especiawwy for netbooks.

Googwe has since 2011, marketed a netbook-specific pwatform known as Chrome OS. Googwe has made efforts to provide access to de Android ecosystem widin Chrome OS, incwuding de 2016 introduction of Googwe Pway Store and a compatibiwity wayer for Android appwications to de pwatform.[114]

In 2011, Googwe introduced Chrome OS, a Linux-based operating system designed particuwarwy for netbook-wike devices marketed as "Chromebooks". The pwatform is designed to weverage onwine services, cwoud computing, and its namesake Chromeweb browser as its sheww—so much so dat de operating system initiawwy used a fuww screen web browser window as its interface, and contained wimited offwine functionawity.[115][116] Later versions of Chrome OS introduced a traditionaw desktop interface[117] and a pwatform awwowing "native" packaged software written in HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to be devewoped for de pwatform.[118]

Netbooks have sparked de devewopment of severaw Linux variants or compwetewy new distributions, which are optimized for smaww screen use and de wimited processing power of de Atom or ARM processors which typicawwy power netbooks. Exampwes incwude Ubuntu Netbook Edition, EasyPeasy, Jowi OS and MeeGo, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, and Darwin. Bof Jowi OS and MeeGo purport to be "sociaw oriented" or sociaw networking operating systems rader dan traditionaw "office work production" operating systems.[119]

Since 2010, major netbook manufacturers no wonger instaww or support Linux in de United States. The reason for dis change of stance is uncwear, awdough it coincides wif de avaiwabiwity of a 'netbook' version of Windows XP, and a water Windows 7 Starter and a strong marketing push for de adoption of dis OS in de netbook market. However, companies targeting niche markets, such as System76 and ZaReason, continue to pre-instaww Linux on de devices dey seww.

The Cwoud operating system attempts to capitawize on de minimawist aspect of netbooks. The user interface is wimited to a browser appwication onwy.

Mac OS X has been demonstrated running on various netbooks as a resuwt of de OSx86 project,[120] awdough dis is in viowation of de operating system's end-user wicense agreement.[121] Appwe has compwained to sites hosting information on how to instaww OS X onto non-Appwe hardware (incwuding Wired and YouTube) who have reacted and removed content in response.[122] One articwe nicknamed a netbook running OS X a "Hackintosh." The Macbook Air can be considered an expensive netbook.

A June 2009 NPD study found dat 60% of netbook buyers never take deir netbooks out of de house.[123]

Speciaw "chiwdren's" editions of netbooks have been reweased under Disney branding; deir wow cost (wess at risk), wack of DVD pwayer (wess to break) and smawwer keyboards (cwoser to chiwdren's hand sizes) are viewed as significant advantages for dat target market. The principaw objection to netbooks in dis context is de wack of good video performance for streaming onwine video in current netbooks and a wack of speed wif even simpwe games. Aduwts browsing for text content are wess dependent on video content dan smaww chiwdren who cannot read.

Netbooks are a growing trend in education for severaw reasons. The need to prepare chiwdren for 21st-century wifestywes, combined wif hundreds of new educationaw toows dat can be found onwine, and a growing emphasis on student centered wearning are dree of de biggest contributing factors to de rising use of netbook technowogy in schoows.[citation needed] Deww was one of de first to mass-produce a ruggedised netbook for de education sector, by having a rubber outway, touchscreen and network activity wight to show de teacher de netbook is onwine.

Netbooks offer severaw distinct advantages in educationaw settings. First, deir compact size and weight make for an easy fit in student work areas. Simiwarwy, de smaww size make netbooks easier to transport dan heavier, warger sized traditionaw waptops. In addition, prices ranging from $200–$600 mean de affordabiwity of netbooks can be a rewief to schoow budget makers. Despite de smaww size and price, netbooks are fuwwy capabwe of accompwishing most schoow-rewated tasks, incwuding word processing, presentations, access to de Internet, muwtimedia pwayback, and photo management.[124]

^Vance, Ashwee; Richtew, Matt (Apriw 1, 2009). "Light and Cheap, Netbooks Are Poised to Reshape PC Industry". The New York Times. "AT&T announced on Tuesday dat customers in Atwanta couwd get a type of compact PC cawwed a netbook for just 50 US$ if dey signed up for an Internet service pwan, uh-hah-hah-hah..."—“The era of a perfect Internet computer for 99 US$ is coming dis year,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, a maker of PC graphics chips dat is trying to adapt to de new technowogicaw order.

^Appwe MacBook Air review (11-inch, Summer 2012), "Remember Netbooks and uwtraportabwe waptops? Those 10- and 11-inchers were aww de rage a few years ago, but danks to de rise of warger-screened Uwtrabook waptops and smawwer-screened tabwets, dey've been disappearing from de computer wandscape. One significant 11-incher stiww remains: de 11-inch MacBook Air. When it debuted in wate 2010, it was de answer to de Netbook Generation, uh-hah-hah-hah. Now it stands awone, not onwy as a speedy uwtraportabwe, but as one of de few 11-inch Uwtrabook-cwass waptops around. The cwosest Windows eqwivawent we've reviewed recentwy, de Deww XPS 13, is warger and heavier."